The unseasonably chilly weather with lots of wind and bands of rain continued today, but we again dodged all serious downpours and my sister actually caught the brief but fabulous early-morning rainbow from her bedroom/living room window. Signs that it is possible for the sun to shine again in a more consistent fashion? Ironically, this weather is what I associated with very early summer in Germany from my childhood, but as Mark noted, of the ten times he has traveled here with me, this has been the longest cool and wet stretch he remembers.
But we were, as ever, undeterred by mildly discouraging weather, and after a bit of breakfast (Judith made the hallmark millet porridge with fruit and a bit of oatmilk that she and Michael usually have for breakfast) and some chatting on the balcony while watching little birds flit from tree to tree, my sister and I, went for a lovely morning walk straight from their doorstep, and saw deer, a young hare, and a beautiful large hawk confusingly called a common buzzard (Mäusebussard). Mostly, though, we walked to talk and had a wonderful conversation about life, work, past, future, and generally everything. She also went through her closet for some things that she wanted to shed and that she thought would suit me well, and I ended up with a gorgeous skirt and a couple of very nice t-shirts. Lucky me! Later, all four of us went for one more walk a little further off, in a “Ruhewald,” or forest of rest, where the trees have name tags (sometimes just numbers) so that you can go and remember your loved ones there, although they are NOT buried there (my stepfather’s name is on a tree like that in Osnabrück’s “Ruhewald”). We took a loop through the forest just because it is a lovely area, but this time around, the topic was primarily politics, both global and US. Our friends here always want our predictions for the totally unpredictable midterms, and that usually leads to rather in-the-weeds discussions of gerrymandering, voter suppression, the baffling loyalty of Republican politicians to Trump even as he destroys their chances to be elected, etc. But I quickly reach the limit on what I can explain, and found it more interesting to listen to Michael explain the threat the right-wing nationalists and nativists here (the AfD) pose for the political establishments. After we got back, we packed up the last of our things, had a quick “breakfast for lunch” with rolls, croissants, spreads, and cheeses (including a dark chocolate spread by Lindt that none of us had ever tried before), and said goodbye to Toji, who is truly living his best tuxedo cat life.
Judith and Michael drove us to the train station in Neumünster and saw us off. An hour later, we were at the Hamburg train station, and already on autopilot to get to Andrea and Peter’s apartment (U1 to Wandsbek Gartenstadt, Bus # 8 to Walddörferstr., walk to Auf dem Königslande). The arrival at their place is always a highlight of our visit for all four of us–in fact, they said that this always marks the beginning of their year (insert 365 hear emojis here). After hugs all around, Andrea led me to my birthday present. When I had my 60th birthday partly last January, I had made the rule that gifts had to be recycled / home-made with no new purchases required. With plates and bowls that her mom was looking to give away for a flea market, she made me this and at the same time was ready to feed us upon arrival (of course):
After we had devoured the fruit, tiramisu squares, and cream puffs that Andrea had so enticingly put in front of us, we went for a little walk through the nearby park (Eichtalpark), which last year was one confusing mess of construction areas, because it was being redesigned as a “Klimapark” with many education stations about climate change and means to reduce city heat bubbles by preserving and enhancing green areas like this park. Now it’s all finished, and we had a good time walking through the new areas and then also to an old favorite, a small botanical garden, which, in spite of some changes that none of us liked (fewer shrubs and a vandalized toilet) was still full of beautiful plants, including a kind of two-color peony we hadn’t ever seen before.
After our walk, Andrea and I took over the kitchen–she made pasta sauce and I made a salad, and around 8 pm we had a festive & fabulous dinner and talked until I had to call it quits and go to bed around 9:30 (the others hung out without me for another hour). We are so happy we are back with our besties.